Public Relations and the Sting of the Web Swarm: A Tod Maffin Live Web Seminar
I frequently get requests from folks who attended one of my presentations to do another session online, so that people can pick up the knowledge in them, but not have to spend growing air costs to fly somewhere. To that end…
I’m happy to announce that I’ve teamed up with the International Association of Business Communicators to present a live over-the-web seminar called “Public Relations and the Sting of the Webswarm.”
The seminar will be held Tuesday, July 22. Here’s the session description, as written by IABC folks:
Social media strategist Tod Maffin sees webswarms as one of the biggest threats to corporate reputation today. Maffin — with backgrounds in both corporate p.r. and journalism — can show you how to stop the public relations crisis in its tracks and engage your audience in a positive dialogue. If you don’t know about digital swarms, this web seminar is important to your organization and to your career as a communication professional. It will give you the tools to detect, monitor and respond when an angry swarm of internet users attacks your company or your client’s organization.
Disgruntled customers and employees have easy access to blogs and Internet message boards which can fuel a PR nightmare for any organization regardless of size, industry or location. The swarms of individuals posting and linking to comments act quickly, and their work can’t be undone. Imagine someone posting a negative message about the customer service at your company on a widely read message board. Readers start agreeing and telling their stories, links are flying and a negative swarm forms.
Maffin recommends that you develop a disaster recovery plan that allows you to prepare for and manage the negative swarms. “You must respond within hours, not days,” says Maffin. “You need a plan at your disposal which can be implemented the instant you hear a swarm buzzing.” Based on his experience dealing with potentially disatrous swarms, Maffin will provide specific steps for managing these negative swarms.
Maffin’s SWARM methodology, which he will detail during the presentation, is comprised of five tactics:
S- Sweeten the Honey Pot
W- Win-Win
A- Advise Them What You’ve Changed
R- Right Wrongs
M- Make FriendsThis fast-paced, information-rich presentation includes 30 minutes of Q&A following the one hour presentation.
Who at your organization should attend this important program?
* Corporate communication and PR directors and managers
* Human resources senior staff
* Customer service directors
* Webmaster and web team
* Outside PR and legal counsel
If you’re interested, you can find out more at the IABC Webinar registration page.
How to Deal With Webswarms (P.R.’s worst nightmare)
If you don’t yet know about digital swarms, you should. As technology guru and futurist Tod Maffin told the Edmonton IABC chapter in January, swarms may be the biggest threat to communicators today.
Take, for example, the case of one Winnipeg hotel. A blogger with a loyal readership had one unfortunate stay at this hotel, so he posted his complaints on his blog. Other bloggers discussed his experience on their own sites and posted a link to his original gripe. In response to them, our first blogger continued the discussion, linking to their posts…and so on, and so on.
The first negative post might have slipped, unnoticed, into cyberspace. But because of the network of links that developed, the post was noticed by someone very important: Googlebot.
Yes, Googlebot: the robot that combs the web and tallies the number of links that refer to a certain page. The greater the number of links, the higher the page will rank in a Google search.
Google page rank, or “Googlejuice,” as it’s known, is an elusive commodity your company should prize highly. Case in point: because of all the Googlejuice generated by the linking hotel bloggers, the bad blog review now ranks higher in a Google search than the slagged hotel’s own corporate website.
That’s the power of what Maffin calls “webswarms.”
If you doubt that the rantings of an obscure online writer can reach your target customers, consider the phenomenon of the Mahir web page. You’d probably recognize Mahir, the exuberant bachelor who searched for love via the internet, proclaiming “I KISS YOU!”
Originally, a link to that site was distributed to a mailing list of 73 people. From there, it was sent to four other mailing lists. Within 11 days, a link to Mahir’s personal homepage had reached many, many more. Mahir found worldwide celebrity (and, incidentally, a wife) through the power of a digital swarm.
Because they are so widely and readily accessible, blogs and message boards can quickly turn into a Google-fueled PR nightmare. The swarms of posters and linkers act quickly and are unpredictable. If they post a negative comment, for whatever reason, you can’t undo it. All you can do is react, and react well.
Maffin suggests that your organization develop a plan, much like a disaster recovery plan, to deal with negative internet swarms. “You must respond within hours, not days,” he says. “If a swarm is forming on Friday afternoon, it can’t wait until Monday.” You need at your disposal a plan which can be implemented the instant you hear a swarm buzzing.
Fortunately, Maffin offers some guidance, based on his personal experience dealing with a potentially disastrous swarm. Because swarms are not led by a leader—they are led from the inside—Maffin says, “You must to respond directly to the swarm.” That is, you must add a posting or comment of your own.
Imagine someone has posted a nasty message about the customer service at your company on a widely-visited message board. Respondents start agreeing, links are flying, and suddenly a negative swarm is forming. It’s time for you to participate in the swarm.
To help you quash the swell of bad PR, Maffin provides a handy mnemonic, based on the acronym S.W.A.R.M.:
S- Sweeten the Honey Pot.
Use a friendly tone with no jargon. “Thanks for pointing out our goof—we’re not perfect, but we’re trying.”W- Win-Win.
Make them feel like they have the upper hand. “You were right to feel irritated.”A- Advise Them What You’ve Changed.
Do this within the first few sentences. “Thanks to your posting, we’re changing our policy.”R-Right Wrongs
Correct online inaccuracies. Don’t let errors stand on the internet forever. Several popular web sites (including one run by Google) take snapshots of online content and store them in a searchable cache—forever.M-Make Friends
E-mail some of the individual contributors and invite them to keep in contact. “I hope you’ll continue to share your insights with me.”
Says Maffin, “It’s the cheapest focus group you will ever have.” Turning enemy swarms into allies might also be the best damage control you ever do.
Introducing: Media Release 2.0 (a proposal)
After a brief stint in private radio, I began my career in public relations. I worked for a great little company called The Haibeck Group as director of new media. Back then, Netscape had JUST gotten background colours. People still used gopher. (<sigh> I miss gopher.)
Anyway.
One of the jobs I had to do was to write news releases and send them out to the media.
Then, I had to make the dreaded follow-up calls. Follow-up calls are the worst. Frankly, most journalists who answer these calls are abrupt and even kind of condescending. (It’s why I always take a moment to listen to a pitch and, if it’s not right for me, explain why so they can get some value out of the conversation.)
Today, as the National Technology Columnist for the CBC, I get a lot of news releases, nearly all by email. And it has interested me that, despite all the progress we’ve made in digital media and newsgathering, that the venerable old news release hasn’t changed its form.
There’s the lead paragraph, followed by some bullshit quote from a senior executive (”I’m pleased to announce the blah blah blah…”) and then usually a string of meaningless brand names… er BRAND NAMES… and no real sense of the news value or the real story.
And so, I would like to propose a new format for media releases.
With the kind permission of the p.r. person behind Bell Canada, I have done a revision of their news release issued yesterday.
Here’s the news release, as sent to me:
Bell adds iPod™ and mobile phone compatible
MP3 downloads to Sympatico/MSN Music Store
DRM-free music catalogue playable on a wide range of music devices
TORONTO, October 2, 2007 – Bell Canada today announced the availability of unrestricted MP3 music files on Sympatico/MSN Music Store musicstore.sympatico.msn.ca. Canadian consumers can purchase downloadable tracks playable on a wide range of compatible music and mobile devices, including iPod™ and MP3-enabled mobile phones.
“As Canada’s leading internet service provider and online portal, Bell continues to build and offer the most robust online entertainment portfolio, including music, video and gaming,” said Kevin Crull, President, Bell Residential Services. “The addition of MP3 tracks to Sympatico/MSN Music Store furthers our commitment to offering Canadians the very best entertainment experience.”
Because these downloadable MP3 tracks are Digital Rights Management (DRM) free, there are no limits on the types of music devices or number of computers on which purchased songs can be played. With more than a half million MP3 tracks currently available and more being added every week, Bell offers tracks some of the world’s best selling artists, including The Beatles, Coldplay, Norah Jones, Keith Urban, Gorillaz and The Rolling Stones as well as best selling Canadian acts Nickelback, k-os and Stompin’ Tom Connors. Sympatico/MSN also offers one of Canada’s largest selections of French artists, including Claude Dubois, Marie-Mai, Ima and many more.
In addition to being compatible with a variety of portable music devices, Bell’s DRM-free MP3 downloads can also be enjoyed on a wide range of MP3-compatible Bell Mobility phones.
Bell is offering MP3s from several independent labels as well as EMI artists, which can play on any portable media player or computer and can be burned on to CD, all without fear of viruses, corrupt files, spyware and pop-ups that are often associated with music download sites.
Consumers continue to have the choice of purchasing DRM-enabled Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. Albums in MP3 format will retail for the same price as DRM-enabled albums, while single tracks cost as little as 99 cents.
For a full listing of today’s’ hottest MP3 titles, please visit musicstore.sympatico.msn.ca
* iPod is a trademark of Apple®
About Bell
Bell is Canada’s largest communications company, providing consumers with solutions to all their communications needs, including telephone services, wireless communications, high-speed Internet, digital television and voice over IP. Bell also offers integrated information and communications technology (ICT) services to businesses and governments, and is the Virtual Chief Information Officer (VCIO) to small and medium businesses (SMBs). Bell is proud to be a Premier National Partner and the exclusive Communications Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. For information on Bell’s products and services, please visit www.bell.ca. For corporate information on BCE, please visit www.bce.ca.- 30 -
For media inquiries, please contact:
Okay. Let’s look at this release.
First, it reads like an ad. It’s promotional in nature and it seems to be really concerned that Bell’s division president gets his meaningless (sorry, Bell, but it’s true) quote in there. Here’s the thing: No reputable journalistic outlet would print or broadcast that quote. It’s pointless. It says nothing.
The problem, I think, is with the form of the release itself.
Today’s journalists and bloggers (they’re part of the media too, after all) are bombarded by more and more releases. Many of them don’t read past the headline.
That’s why this release’s headline:
Bell adds iPod™ and mobile phone compatible
MP3 downloads to Sympatico/MSN Music Store
is flawed. Almost half of the headline is taken up with brand names.
And, frankly, this headline doesn’t say what the real story here is: That Bell is now offering unrestricted MP3 files to Canadians cheaper than anyone else. That is the story here.
And so, here is what I would propose as a new news release format. It contains the bare essentials, in bullet-point form, to catch the eye of journalists. It still includes the obligatory crappyquote from the executive, but it’s written in a simple, non-hyped style.
You can download my proposal for the Media Release 2.o [PDF].
(P.S. It’s a News Release or a Media Release. Don’t call it a Press Release. Presses refer to printing presses, and thus exclude electronic media like radio, television, and the Internet.
Have a look at my proposal for Media Release 2.0 and I’d love to hear your comments.
Why do p.r. people SHOUT so much?
This seems to be a growing trend among p.r. people — using all capitals to describe their client or show or company name. And I don’t get it.
For instance, Telus insists that its brand name be reproduced as TELUS. Which, frankly, is STUPID. Because TELUS, all in caps, implies it’s an acronym. (Perhaps it is: Telephone Expensive? Losers Use Silicon).
The worst offender, I hate to say, is the CBC. Here’s a recent media release from them. Er, us.
CBC TELEVISION’S CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW
BEGINS ITS FOURTH SEASON, FRIDAY, OCT. 5 AT 7:30 P.M.Canada’s favourite antiques show, the CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, returns for its fourth exciting season on CBC Television, Friday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Host Valerie Pringle and the Roadshow appraisers were delighted by the turnout at this year’s tapings and by the amazing trinkets and treasures-both large and small-that people brought to the venues.
The show visited six Canadian communities: Vernon, B.C.; Lethbridge, Alta.; Thunder Bay, Ont.; London, Ont.; Sherbrooke, Que.; and Charlottetown, P.E.I. Visiting Prince Edward Island marks the CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW’s foray into every province, appraising antiques from Canadians across the country. The crowds during this year’s tapings surpassed the previous three tours, proving the show’s enduring appeal.
The CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW continues to entertain viewers with interesting local stories, family histories and unusual finds. With an emphasis on Canadiana, the series offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of the people who settled this country and the stories that make it such a culturally rich place to live.
CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is directed by Michael Lewis, Denise Poirier and Christie McDonald. Executive producers are John Brazill and Mark Pederson. It is a production of Wallace Cove Productions in association with CBC Television.
Supporting photography available at www.cbc.ca/imagegallery
Leaving aside the fact that the writer of this released used hyphens instead of dashes in the first-paragraph parenthetical clause (god, I’m a geek), can someone explain why they need to write THE SHOW NAME out in every instance that THE SHOW NAME is mentioned?
No. Seriously.
P.R. people? Why do you do this?
Update: The CBC responded to me about the CAPS issue:
> As for putting the show titles in caps, it’s a way of eliminating any
> confusion. This is the show we’re promoting. Because inevitably, press
> releases will contain the names of other CBC shows, which are bolded and
> italicized, non-CBC shows, which are just italicized–and the show we’re
> actually promoting. We actually have an entire style guide devoted to our
> media releases.
Meh. This distinction is only relevant internally. Journalists don’t know or care that that’s the syntax you’re using.
Media Relations Tip #2: Awards Are Not Stories
This morning’s pile of email pitches (27) included this news release:
August 21st, 2007 – [company], a leader in comparison shopping for consumer [category] products, today announced that it received the [awards] Bronze Award. The awards handed out twice annually are organized by the [association], a national clearinghouse for [category] information programs and materials.
A nation wide panel of [industry] information and Internet experts judge entries based on content, format, success in reaching the targeted audience and overall quality. This awards program, the most comprehensive of its kind, recognizes the best consumer [category] information materials and programs from organizations throughout the United States and the awards are considered the “seal of approval” for [category] information on the web.
”[company] is honored to receive the [award] Award,” comments [name], President and CEO, [company]. “Overall our objective is to be the #1 advocate for the consumer when it comes to helping them with their on-line [category] product needs. This award provides validation from the [category] Industry that we are a leader in providing accurate, fair [category] product information to the consumer, which is why more and more US consumers are relying on [company] to show them where to buy [company] products online with confidence.”
Where do I begin?
- Once again, no greeting to me or indication from the p.r. person (whom I’ve met in person a couple of times and otherwise have a high regard for) as to why I should be interested in this story.
- Unless you’ve won an Oscar or Pulitzer, winning an award is not a news story. And even then, it’s got to have an interesting story. There are far too many organizations giving awards out and it’s just a cheap excuse for generating a news release. In the same category as hiring a polling firm to do a survey for you, then publishing the (favourable) results. Whenever I see either, I assume immediately something is actually wrong at the company, because clearly they don’t have any thing newsworthy to say, and are just trying to get back into the media.
- Worse of all, this news release contains the dreaded WAPT (”We are pleased to”) quote. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass that your President is proud, happy, delighted, honoured, or pleased that your firm did something. That’s his job to. It’s not surprising. The quote in this particular release (in italics, above) says absolutely nothing. You could apply the quote to any company. It’s worse than a generic mission statement. I mean really, when was the last time you saw the New York Times publish that kind off quote? Just leave it out and give me something I can actually work with.
Media Relations tips (from the other side)
I get a lot of pitches from media relations folks. Most of them, I’m sorry to report, end up in the trash. I thought I’d do a short series of blog postings explaining why some pitches end up in the trash.Here’s what I received this morning:
Good morning,Today [camera maker] announces it has added significantly to its [brand name] line with six new cameras, including the [model] (replacing the [model]) and the new [model].Other cameras include [model] and more of the popular A-series cameras.
For your convenience I have included links to each of the releases below, but please feel free to contact me for the original documents or for more product information.
Best, [name]
Okay, this one has two primary problems with it:
- It’s clearly a “blasted” pitch, which means the exact same email has been sent to other reporters, without any thought to their beat or anything. Even a simple “Hi Tod” at the start would help me think even a bit of thought was put into it. But really, the pitches that grab my attention quickly have a bit of personalization. For instance: “Hi Tod, I know you’ve done a few stories on digital cameras recently, so I thought you’d appreciate this.”
- There’s no compelling story here. You’ve added new models. Big deal. Companies add products every hour. Tell me about something REVOLUTIONARY in the product. Does one camera have something really cool that no other digital camera on the market has? Is it the first digital camera that can also make coffee? If there’s no compelling story (sorry, but going from 10 megapixels to 12 megapixels is not a story) then don’t send me the pitch at all.
A sample from one of my keynote speeches
If the Internet is like a swarm, then sometimes good buzz can quickly turn into bad buzz and you can get stung. Tod will introduce your delegates to both the swarm culture and both the danger and opportunities in blogs and podcasts. Features everything you need to master Tod’s S-W-A-R-M system to respond to negative buzz online.
Click the Play button at the centre to view. | Watch Video
From a keynote presentation to the International Convention of the IABC. More information about this presentation at http://www.todmaffin.com/speaking/pr.php.
IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) review
It’s been a busy week. A week ago, I was at the IABC, giving a presentation called: “The Sting of the Webswarm: Crisis Communications In the Age of Blogs” (I’ve since done a presentation to a government group that I can’t talk about, a speech in Kananaskis about targeting future media consumers, and am now in Calgary about to speak to some lawyers about work-life balance.)
But the IABC summary was: “If the Internet is like a swarm, then sometimes good buzz can quickly turn into bad buzz and you can get stung. Tod will introduce your delegates to both the swarm culture and both the danger and opportunities in blogs and podcasts.”
Following my luncheon at the IABC which generated great response among the delegates and bloggers in attendance, my client emailed me with their delighted feedback:
Discussions continued in the hallways through end of conference regarding your presentation and content. One keynote introducer commented that she doesn’t recall ever before where she went from tears of sadness (Stephen Lewis keynote) to tears from hilarious laughter (your session) during a conference. You were certainly a conference highlight.
Felt good. 
Raving reviews from my IABC presentation yesterday
I had a great time with the folks at the IABC International conference yesterday, as their luncheon speaker. Some reviews from my presentation are in:
- “One of the best presentations I’ve seen at an IABC conference…. Tod Maffin did an awe-inspiring job explaining the impact of the social web to a packed ballroom of communicators, having them laughing while simultaneously terrifying them. Maffin has a remarkable ability to make complex concepts like webswarms understandable to people unfamiliar with the notion.” — Shel Holtz
- “Podcaster, blogger and CBC radio broadcaster Tod Maffin provided a ‘roll-in-the-aisles’ funny case for the power of social media. Solid ideas illustrated by real world examples…. I just couldn’t stop laughing long enough to catch up with Maffin’s delivery.” — Joesph Thornley
- “Tod Maffin never disappoints. He was our Lunch and Learn speaker today at a sold-out session. Chatting with my tablemates before lunch, I mentioned that I’d met Tod before (and have spent a day with him at a seminar) and said we were in for a treat. Everyone nodded politely. A few minutes later, they were crying with laughter and nodding their heads in recognition of the communication truths spoken by Tod. I would not be surprised if he were voted Top Speaker of the Conference, if there is such an honour. Anyone who is interested in public speaking should watch Tod and learn from a master. His sense of timing and his story-telling abilities are awesome.” — Donna Papacosta
- “My mind is still buzzing with today’s outstanding lunchtime presentation by Tod Maffin and his powerfully honest insight into the power of the Geek when avenging poor customer treatment. Next time you see this guy turning up at a conference make a point of being there and learning from him.” — Andrew Riley, ACA
Thanks! Then it was off to the airport for a flight to Toronto, then Montreal, then a middle-of-the-night drive to Ottawa to get here in time for a 8am speech to some municipal I.T. folks. Time for bed!
-
RSS Feeds
-
Tod Elsewhere
